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Disable CUPS job history and remove job files System
I was always wondering why the completed jobs are shown in CUPS -- you can't restart them (you'll get an error message if you click the Restart Job button), and they take up drive space. For a private user, the job history is also useless -- your privacy is kept without it. Here's how to keep the list clean.
  1. Modify cupsd.conf. In an admin account, navigate to /private » etc » cups (use Go » Go to Folder from the Finder menu if you want), make a copy of cupsd.conf and rename it to cupsd.conf_default. Open cupsd.conf in TextWrangler or your editor of choice. Edit these lines as shown:

    #PreserveJobHistory Yes » PreserveJobHistory No
    #PreserveJobFiles No » PreserveJobFiles No

    Save the file, quit the editor.
  2. Delete old printed job files. Log in to root account. WARNING! Think twice, don't rush. Navigate to /var/spool/cups delete all the files except the /tmp folder.
  3. Check CUPS again. Restart with connected and powered printer. Open your browser and open the CUPS interface. Click Manage Jobs, then click Show Completed Jobs. Print anything and check again.
[robg adds: To delete the job files, you can start a root shell (sudo -s) as opposed to actually logging in as root. Please be careful with deletion in this mode; you really can do Bad Things in a hurry (have you backed up lately?).]
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Disable CUPS job history and remove job files | 3 comments | Create New Account
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Disable CUPS job history and remove job files
Authored by: pub3abn on Mar 22, '07 09:04:34AM

I think it would be clearer to say "navigate to /private/etc/cups".



[ Reply to This | # ]
Disable CUPS job history and remove job files
Authored by: aglzen on Mar 22, '07 10:30:35AM

From digging around in this file, and the /var/spool/cups/ folder, I'd say this hint doesn't need to happen.

The CUPS system already deletes jobs once they're done - that's what the second line does. The print history doesn't take up much space at all - <1MB on my system, after a week of extensive printing. The /var/spool/cups/ files appear to be metadata on the jobs, not the jobs themselves - they're much too small.

In short, things don't seem to be broken, so I wouldn't change it unless you have a really good reason!



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Disable CUPS job history and remove job files
Authored by: gxw on Mar 22, '07 05:56:52PM

Interesting hint. The job history in CUPS does bother me.

Was looking at the cupsd.conf file and the default behaviour is not to keep any job files (os x 10.4.9). It does keep a list of things printed though. No need to do anything to to this line: #PreserveJobFiles No » PreserveJobFiles .

Deleting /var/spool/cups - mine is only 88K [1] So I don't feel the need to delete it - YMMV

1. sudo du -h /var/spool/cups



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